Creating SEO friendly web sites for an international clientelle
Integration
Anyone can create a reasonable website for 'free', and the role of 'Website designer-creator' has changed!
We add value by designing and creating websites and by integrating all of the pieces required to promote a product or idea, over the internet.
For basic website creation a number of options exist, and we list their advantages and shortcomings below:
- Custom made using HTML editors such as Dreamweaver
- Using automated Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Wordpress
- Facebook Pages, Google +
- Many other 'Instant Site' programmes/websites
Couple any of these with the multitude of graphics creation sites and you can create a site, but probably not quickly.....if you want anything other than the basics. To do anything more than the basics however, you will have to invest a lot of time in the process:
1. HTML editors such as Dreamweaver - Pluses and Minuses
- Very comprehensive for maintaining and updating a simple or complex site
- Steep learning curve for beginners
- If you don't understand the code behind the WYSIWIG interface, it can easily all come unstuck when you accidentally delete something you shouldn't have! Learning that code is a big commitment.
- You still have to learn the basics of Javascript and a programming script/language such as PHP, C#, Java etc, if you want to add more functionality.
A good solution if you know enough about code to be able to go in and customise the site yourself. Ideal for professional site creators, and amateurs with a lot of time. It is what we will use if you ask us to create a site for you.
2. Automated Content Management Systems (CMS) - Pluses and Minuses
- Organisations like Wordpress do a great job of keeping up to date with technology so if you go with them you will find integration with social networking, HTML5, CSS3 advances etc. are speedily incorporated into the code.
- There is a not insubstantial learning curve if you want anything more than the basics.
- There are limitations on what customisation can be done. To learn how to do this is another learning curve.
- Because transferring anything over the web is an inexact science (browser incompatibility etc), if there are any bugs, you will find it difficult to tackle them yourself.
- You can implement anything up to a full e-commerce site, but will have to invest an enormous amount of time getting a complex site going.
A good solution for a professional who wants to run their own business and who has the skills to become an expert on the content management system code.
3. Facebook Pages, Google + - Pluses and Minuses
- Very quick to set up with some very good features
- Limited but useful custimisation possible
- Easy to promote with existing social networking contacts
- Easy to add links to your own sites (full site, mobile site etc)
- The main negative is that if you rely just on these sites, you will not be building up any of your own copyright. That might not be as important as it was once perceived, but it is still important.
A good solution for someone who wants to spend nothing on website design, creation, updating etc., and who likes playing social networking sites.
What we can do for you - Design, Creation & Integration
To successfully market a product, idea, etc. you need to make use of all of the mechanisms that get the message out. For that reason, the best solution is:
- A domain name with your own personal website (using one of the options above)
- Pages on all the social networking sites with links between them and your domain name.
- The social networking sites can be updated simultaneously by you with updated images, news etc, so no need to pay for website updates for incremental changes.
- Add videos and images to sites like Youtube etc that help promote your identity and your own site
- Make the site accessible from mobile phones - doesn't have to be the whole site, but one or two pages to start.
- Spend time on optimising the Search Engine profile of your site. We can provide this service as well, and will make sure that Google, Bing etc get the latest sitemap files.
We can put the whole thing together for you - we can design and create a custom site for you which takes into account all of your commercial/non-commercial goals.
We will make the various design elements of the site work together (see below), including:
- Create Search Engine 'friendly' pages
- Make search engines aware of the site with sitemap submissions (Google, Bing etc)
- Create and tie in links to the various social networking sites (Facebook, Google +, Youtube, Twitter etc)
- Create a mobile landing page (and site if necessary)
The basic process is described below:
Custom Site
We will give you a quote for producing a professional web site, which can include the creation of logos, banners, animations, image enhancements, multilanguage sites etc. We can take care of all of the details of domain name registration and hosting. The process of web site creation is outlined below.
Domain Name Registration
You need to register a domain name which has not already been reserved (ie. yourname.com), with one of the internet registrars. You pay a registration fee which lasts for one year or more.
As part of creating a custom site we can do this for you.
Hosting Service
Then you need to pay a hosting company (whose servers are connected to the internet backbone) to allow you to put your website content on its servers. We can recommend hosting companies and/or organise hosting for you.
Website Authoring
Then you need to create the web site layout and the content - and update it.
We can provide this service. For a custom site the price can vary a great deal depending on options taken, but we can create all of the content if you require.
Design Elements
Web sites can be just a simple collection of pages with text, links and images, or they can be much more complicated. These more complicated sites use many elements of web design that are standard.
The following are some of the main elements of web creation that we use:
- Client account creation and login
- SSL security certificate
- Product Catalogue
- Shopping Basket
- Secure Payments
- Virtual Tours
- Flash animations
- Audio
- Forms
- Javascript, DOM scripting
- Databases
- Java Applets